47 CFR 76.921 - Buy-through of other tiers prohibited.

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§ 76.921 Buy-through of other tiers prohibited.

(a) No cable system operator, other than an operator subject to effective competition, may require the subscription to any tier other than the basic service tier as a condition of subscription to video programming offered on a per channel or per program charge basis. A cable operator may, however, require the subscription to one or more tiers of cable programming services as a condition of access to one or more tiers of cable programming services.

(b) A cable operator not subject to effective competition may not discriminate between subscribers to the basic service tier and other subscribers with regard to the rates charged for video programming offered on a per-channel or per-program charge basis.

(c) With respect to cable systems not subject to effective competition, prior to October 5, 2002, the provisions of paragraph (a) of this section shall not apply to any cable system that lacks the capacity to offer basic service and all programming distributed on a per channel or per program basis without also providing other intermediate tiers of service:

(1) By controlling subscriber access to nonbasic channels of service through addressable equipment electronically controlled from a central control point; or

(2) Through the installation, noninstallation, or removal of frequency filters (traps) at the premises of subscribers without other alteration in system configuration or design and without causing degradation in the technical quality of service provided.

(d) With respect to cable systems not subject to effective competition, any retiering of channels or services that is not undertaken in order to accomplish legitimate regulatory, technical, or customer service objectives and that is intended to frustrate or has the effect of frustrating compliance with paragraphs (a) through (c) of this section is prohibited.

Effective November 2, 2015, except §§ 76.59(a) and (b) which contain information collection requirements that have not been approved by OMB. The Commission will publish a document in the Federal Register announcing when OMB approval for this information collection has been received and these rules will take effect.

47 CFR Part 76

Summary

In this document, the Commission adopts satellite television market modification rules to implement section 102 of the Satellite Television Extension and Localism Act Reauthorization (STELAR) Act of 2014. The STELAR gives the Commission authority to modify a commercial television broadcast station's local television market for purposes of satellite carriage rights. In this document, the Commission revises the current cable market modification rule to apply also to satellite carriage, while adding provisions to address the unique nature of satellite television service. The document also makes conforming and other minor changes to the cable market modification rules.

80 FR 59706 - Implementation of Section 103 of the STELA Reauthorization Act of 2014, Totality of the Circumstances Test

Comments are due on or before December 1, 2015; reply comments are due on or before December 31, 2015.

47 CFR Part 76

Summary

In this document, the Commission seeks comment on potential updates to the “totality of the circumstances test” for evaluating whether broadcast stations and multichannel video programming distributors (“MVPDs”) are negotiating for retransmission consent in good faith. The document seeks comment generally on the totality of the circumstances test, including whether and how the Commission should update that test. The document also seeks comment on whether there are specific practices that the Commission should identify as evidencing bad faith under the totality of the circumstances test.